Native Isekai

Submission 12,276

Part of a series on Isekai. [View Related Entries]

About

Native Isekai is a term describing an anime set in a medieval era, but the main character has not been reincarnated from another world, as is typical of the Isekai genre. The term has been widely mocked online, as many have pointed out that the idea of a "Native Isekai" is actually describing the "Fantasy" genre.

Origin

On August 5th, 2018, a 4chan^[1] user on the /a/ board uploaded a thread about the supposed sudden trend of "native isekai" anime shows, noting the popularity of Goblin Slayer that year (shown below).

Spread

The term didn't see much popularity until roughly 2021 when users of other websites began bringing up the idea of a "Native Isekai." For example, on October 10th, 2021, AniList^[2] forum user HowMuch uploaded a thread asking about "native isekai" anime recommendations (shown below, top). On April 11th, 2022, a now-deleted Reddit^[3] user uploaded a post about Isekai stories where the main character isn't reincarnated from the other world to /r/isekai subreddit (shown below, bottom).

On November 14th, 2023, X^[4] user @Ahoworksco uploaded a post about people who unironically think that the "fantasy" genre is called "native isekai". The post received more than 3,700 likes and 315 reposts in one day (shown below, left). On the same day, Facebook^[5] user Hafizh Derian uploaded a post asking "what is your native isekai favorite?" in which he claimed Goblin Slayer and Sousou no Frieren were considered "native isekai." The post received more than 1,400 reactions and 900 shares in one day, as he was mocked by commenters for describing "fantasy" anime (shown below, right).

Starting that day, the term began growing popular as a meme, as people ironically replaced the word "Fantasy" with "Native Isekai" in titles. For example on November 15th, 2023, Facebook^[6] page "Jurnal si Tokek Merah" uploaded a Drakeposting meme about Granblue Fantasy, calling it Granblue Native Isekai. The post received 253 reactions and 101 shares in seven hours (shown below, left). On the same day, Facebook^[7] user Eve Ignite uploaded a parody Final Fantasy game logo that changed the name of the game to "Final Native Isekai". The post received 475 reactions and 630 shares in seven hours (shown below, right).